Continuing its series of inquiries against the outgoing government, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Wednesday approved several probes over alleged misuse of power by the former prime ministers, Nawaz Sharif and Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, and chief minister, Shehbaz Sharif and Murad Ali Shah.
The decision was taken in a NAB executive board meeting chaired by the chairman, Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal.
In a statement to the media, the authority said that a go-ahead was given to the probe against Nawaz, Abbasi, who served as minister for petroleum during Nawaz’s tenure before assuming charge of PM office, and others in the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal project.
The former PMs allegedl misused their powers in granting a 15-year contract of LNG terminal to a company in violation of rules, which caused national exchequer a loss of billions of rupees’.
In the meeting, which was held at NAB headquarters in Islamabad, the accountability bureau also approved a probe against former Sindh chief minister, former secretary, officers of the Sindh Culture, Tourism and Antiquities dpartment and others over allegations of misuse of authority. These officials are accused of violating the code of conduct to issue contracts during Sindh Cultural Festival in 2014, which allegedly caused losses of Rs127 million to the national exchequer.
An investigation was also approved against former Punjab chief minister, concerned secretaries, a former MPA from Chiniot and the management of Ramzan Sugar Mills Chiniot over alleged misuse of authority. The accountability bureau also announced to launch probe against former chairman of the Karachi Port Trust, vice admiral (retd) Ahmad Hayat, former Balochistan ministers Sheikh Jaffar Khan and Obaidullah Jan Babat and other officials over similar allegations.
Published in Daily Times, June 7th 2018.
